1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the exchange of information using computer devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for creating and sharing location-based information on a wireless telecommunication device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile telecommunication devices, such as cellular phones, PDAs, and mini-laptops, typically receive and transmit various types of information relating to personal contacts, multimedia, and the like. The wide availability of mobile data networks have enabled mobile device users to remain connected to their provider networks and thus all of the data and services available via the Internet and other networks. Such mobile devices typically host a variety of applications such as video and audio applications, image and audio capture devices, and location determination systems such as GPS. The mobile devices may also have access to location based services such as searching and mapping functions.
Users of mobile devices typically have limited resources for providing a real time user interface that is available for quickly and efficiently sharing information with other mobile device users. For example, users must typically page through numerous screens and scroll through numerous menu choices to find the information or application they are looking for. For example, if a user desires to search for an eatery near their current location, the user may search for and launch a browser, perform a yellow pages search, review the search results, and read through user reviews to find a suitable eatery. As another example, the user may desire to record and store comments about the eatery and share their comments with their contacts. However, many mobile devices do not have the resources such as the processing power and memory to maintain a store of relevant media, nor the applications and services to readily store, share, or access such information.
An opportunity thus exists when a mobile device is capable of receiving or transmitting information about its environment and has access to a data network.